If you’re looking for short animal stories with moral values for youngsters, whether you’re a parent, godparent or teacher, then my new children’s books series should fit the bill. Written in rhyme, my series of animal kids’ stories are about a little boy called Alfie who wants to find out about as many creatures as he can on our planet. So, he travels from country to country to meet them. Which animal can roar? Who likes eating fruit and leaves? Which animal likes napping all day? Learn the answers to these questions and more! Written in rhyme with colourful illustrations, Alfie discovers lots of interesting facts about the animals, from the hairy orangutan to the almighty tiger. The Alfie and the Greatest Creatures series will surely become a much-loved, educational set of books – perfect for curious children and animal lovers.

More Than Just Picture Story Books for Kids…

Animals are a kind of fruitful territory for storytellers and particularly storytellers for little ones. I wanted to write children’s stories with morals, and each book in the Alfie and the Greatest Creatures series builds to a short moral with a positive lesson to learn. Aimed at children aged between 3 – 7 years of age, each book in the Alfie and the Greatest Creatures series is a story about animals with a moral lesson, namely that everyone is special; no one is better than anybody else. In my books, the animals are used to impart a moral message: that everyone has their differences, but that’s what makes us unique.

Educational Stories on Animals

The series is also incredibly educational and teaches children facts about the different creatures in our world, from the hairy orangutan in Alfie and the Tropics to the fastest diving bird, the Emperor penguin, from Alfie and the Snow. Little ones are fascinated by watching animals talk, which is perhaps why I wanted to write a children’s books series, with Alfie as the protagonist and feature talking creatures, too.

Children’s Books About Animals

The series was inspired by several authors who write intriguing animal stories for kids, such as Aesop’s Fables, The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Watership Down by Richard Adams and Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, all of which are a seamless fusion of real and imaginary. I wanted the animal illustrations in Alfie and the Greatest Creatures to be life-like, but also wanted the creatures to speak as humans, since most children love stories with talking animals in them (I most certainly did!).

Moral Stories for Children

The Alfie and the Greatest Creatures short stories for kids series offers value building themes that children can enjoy. The stories build up to a moral with a positive lesson to learn, which is discovered in the fifth and final book, Alfie and the Lion. The animal characters and friendly Alfie in these moral short stories can help kids learn important lessons of life.

About My Alfie and the Greatest Creatures Stories for Kids

Since most children love animals, I think little readers – and even big readers – will identify with Alfie and find him an appealing hero as he discovers the animal kingdom, and the different environments he enters to find them. He discovers a very important message, which is that all animals have an intrinsic greatness and fascination.

]]>https://susiedavids.com/2017/04/17/alfie-and-the-greatest-creatures-book-launch/feed/0Screen Shot 2017-04-17 at 13.24.43susiedavidsymailcompexels-photopexels-photo-60088kids-girl-pencil-drawing-159823pexels-photo-70442lion-wild-africa-africanpolar-bear-arctic-wildlife-snow-53425Screen Shot 2017-04-14 at 10.15.49Screen Shot 2017-04-17 at 12.30.03Screen Shot 2017-04-17 at 13.24.43Living with Tinnitushttps://susiedavids.com/2016/02/11/living-with-tinnitus/
https://susiedavids.com/2016/02/11/living-with-tinnitus/#commentsThu, 11 Feb 2016 21:41:12 +0000http://susiedavids.com/?p=126]]>I’ve had tinnitus for over a year now. Yet my tinnitus no longer destroys or controls my life.

I woke up to what I thought was a fridge whirring in my head back in January 2015. I asked my husband if he could hear what I was hearing, but he couldn’t at all. That was when I knew something was wrong.

After numerous trips to ENT specialists, far too many doctor appointments and a brain MRI scan, it was confirmed I had tinnitus. Nothing more, nothing less.

No hearing loss. In fact, I have ridiculously good hearing.

I was also diagnosed with hypercusis which is basically a hypersensitivity to sounds. Noises others wouldn’t be bothered by.

As for the tinnitus, at first, it was all-encompassing, a constant ringing, screeching or whooshing sound.

Sometimes it’d be more prominent in my right ear, sometimes the left.

Sometimes it would buzz, sometimes it would hiss. Other times, it’d change pitch, then other times sound like crickets.

Even when I was talking to friends or family, or in a meeting with my boss, it was there in the background.

I won’t bore you with any more details, as I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with the ordeal, or you probably wouldn’t be reading this.

However, I will say that I experienced the lowest of the lows. So much so that, at one time, my thoughts became so bad, I had to resort to medication to keep me sane. And strong pills to get me to sleep at night.

In any case, I fought the battle. I saw all the doctors, read gazillions of articles, underwent acupuncture, white noise therapy, had countless tests, tried a variety of prescription medications and over the counter remedies… you name it, I did it. And nothing worked.

I learned all about the inner ear and studied all the theories about tinnitus cures that I could find. I was on an absolute mission to find a cure and I wasn’t going to give up in a hurry… or so I thought.

Ironically, it was the ‘giving up’ that actually saved me and brought a sense of sanity back into my life. It began when I recognised that it was the fight that was crushing me, not the tinnitus. The more I tried to wrestle with it, the more I thought about the humming/ringing/whooshing noises.

In the end, I surrendered and thought, “Sod it! I’m not going to let my tinnitus run my life. I need to get it back.”

That said, it was by no means a fast journey. Neither was it an easy one. But it eventually became a successful journey.

Yes, I still have tinnitus – it isn’t anywhere near as noisy as it used to be – but it doesn’t trouble me to anywhere near the same degree as it did. In fact, the majority of the time, I’m not overly aware of it.

I’m defeating tinnitus, and so can you!

So, What’s the Point in Telling You This?

The point in this post is not because I want you to feel sorry for me. I wrote this post because I think I can help.

I understand that most of you will not care less for what I have to say. And I understand that’s probably down to your ceaseless search for immediate relief.

But I’m hopeful I can persuade some of you to follow my lead. What worked for me may not work for you and I understand that. On the other hand, what do you have to lose?

From a different standpoint, why are you reading this? Are you reading this because you have tinnitus? I see many of you nodding. But hold on just a sec.

Let me ask another question; are you here because of the way in which you respond to tinnitus? Aha! Now I see some re-thinking.

Ultimately, tinnitus is about the direction of your journey rather than your journey.

When I first got tinnitus, I turned to the web for all the answers. There were a few helpful sites, but many were money-making and scamming, imploring you to buy their products claiming “the ringing will stop.” Yeah, right.

I’ll put my hands up and admit that in doing these searches, this enhanced my suffering and ability to cope with the disease. My point? By Googling and researching more, you’re amplifying the problem.

What Not to Do

Here are some things I’ve learned (mostly the hard way) that make things worse…

Don’t wear earplugs (except for when you’re at gig/festival listening to loud music)

Don’t measure the frequency of your tinnitus using those stupid apps or assess it all the time. This’ll only make you more agitated. (I know it’s so hard to “not” think about something!)

Don’t fret about what you eat or do as a trigger. Granted, there are certain foods, drinks or medications that can cause tinnitus, but this is probably not why you have it

Don’t search on the internet about “cures” etc. Most sites are rip-offs. Believe me, I know.

Don’t over-indulge in alcohol or tranquillisers as coping mechanisms. While either may briefly be a godsend and chill you out enough that you forget the noise, it will be back, and perhaps noisier.

Do…

Get on a good multivitamin

Take zinc picolinate 22mg – it’s the best and most absorbable form of zinc

Take gingko biloba – I get mine from Holland and Barrett

Take a good fish oil supplement (the liquid form of Omega-3 is good)

Get a smoothie blender (I have the NutriBullet but any food blender will do) and have a fruit and veg smoothie a few mornings a week. I swear by these smoothies – they’re amazing! (In mine, I use a handful of spinach/kale, 1 carrot, 1 banana, 1 inch of chopped ginger, 2 teaspoons of spirulina, 3 teaspoons of linseeds/pumpkin seeds, 10 blueberries and half an apple

Take the odd sleeping tablet if you need to when your tinnitus gets really bad

See a counsellor – there’s absolutely no shame in that whatsoever. There are so many clinics dedicated to tinnitus, namely The National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, Grays Inn Road, London

Meditate – get one of the free apps and spend 10 minutes a day, everyday, switching off. It helps – trust me

I’ve been whizzing up some healthy concoctions with it since early last year after a pretty serious neck operation. This immune-boosting stuff was what gave me my energy back during my recovery.

For those of you who haven’t a clue about what I’m on about, let me explain.

The NutriBullet is basically an extractor which grinds vegetables, nuts, seeds and even pips and stalks of your fruits.

So, without further ado, here’s my breakfast smoothie recipe, featuring everything from ginger and blueberries to apple, which you can blitz up in seconds.

My Breakfast Smoothie

This smoothie takes two minutes to make and sets you up for a healthy day. The banana, apple and pumpkin seeds make it super thick and creamy, while the blueberries give it a gorgeous colour and a sweet, fruity flavour, and the spinach gives you a good dose of refreshing greens so you’ll be glowing from the inside out…

SERVES ONE

INGREDIENTS

– 2 tsp ginger, peels and finely grated

– 1 tsp spirulina

– 1 big handful of spinach

– 1 banana

– 1 carrot

– 1 tsp of pine nuts

– 2 handfuls of frozen blueberries (these keep it cool and are much cheaper than fresh berries, but fresh berries and a little ice work just a well)

– a few sprigs of mint

– 1 tbsp chia seeds

METHOD

Add all the ingredients into your blender and blend until completely smooth!

I’ll try not to make my first blog post on here too long, for fear you’ll – whoever you are – nod off. And chances are, you probably will – because life’s busy, right? And I really don’t mind if you do – but I guess it’d make my blog post void if you did.

Anyhoo, I digress. Sorry.

Let me introduce myself. And before you yawn, don’t worry, I’ll make it snappy as who really has the time to read waffling rants?

I’m Susie, a copywriter by trade – I basically work with words. Yep, that’s day in, day out. I write articles, blogs, web copy, social media posts, books… you name it, I write it. So, I guess you get the picture.

Another thing I do is radio presenting on MKFM 106.3FM; I present the Wednesday Chill Out Show, 10pm – 12am. Just so you know… maybe you didn’t want to know, I’m not sure.

My love of writing’s always been there, ever since I was a wee one – I’d spend hours writing stories and poems about anything and everything.

That love of writing’s never quite gone away.

I’m now the author of 20 personalised children’s books, all of which are being sold by various retailers, including the company I work for.

The books were published through the company I work for, and sold pretty well – well actually, very well. They were one of my company’s best-selling products – yippee.

The success of these books has inspired me to go it alone, and I’m pleased to introduce my new children’s book Lolly in Sweetie Land which is currently being stocked on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, CreateSpace, Kindle and various other digital channels.

Here’s a sneak peek:

It’s the perfect Christmas gift or all year round read! If your little one loves sweets (and let’s face it, who has a child that doesn’t?), they’ll (hopefully) love Lolly in Sweetie Land.

I wrote the book in rhyme, as I think it makes reading a lot more fun for kids.

The book was illustrated by Dawn Larder who hand-drew every single image you see. She’s amazing.

Being a proper sweetaholic (if there is such a word?), I feel I owed it to myself to write about what I absolutely loved as a child… that being sweets, chocolate, magic and fairies. What little girl doesn’t?

About My Book

My book’s about a little girl called Lolly who loves all things sweet. The best thing about this book is that children the world over can relate to the tale – just look at the international success of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The tale focuses on Lolly who one day makes a special wish. She finds herself in a land where everything is made of sweets and chocolate… a land where rainbow-coloured fairies fly, bubble-gum trees grow and chocolate rivers flow.

On her magical journey, Lolly even meets the candy monster. The fairies don’t like him and it’s up to Lolly to find out why…

Here are a couple of snippets from my book…

Thanks for reading my blog – if you did? Maybe you’ll nab your little one a copy of my new book. Maybe you won’t. But, whatever the case, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2016.